Saturday, 29 April 2006

This could be the year that a surge in time-shifted, on-demand, repackaged content for digital media consumers and advertisers takes the wind out of the television networks' often artificially inflated upfront ad sales and pricing. ¶ That would be a watershed event, especially for the broadcast networks, which have remained stubbornly unaffected by radical declines in audience levels and dramatic increases in competition. ¶ The collective impact of Internet streaming and downloads of television programs to portable wireless devices will at some point take a toll on broadcast and cable network expectations for ad pricing and volume. ¶ And that will irrevocably change the rules of play in television and network economics. ...

Link: Hollywood Reporter. Normally, I keep up with Diane Mermigas's work with an RSS feed of her name's hits in Google News. For whatever reason, it's missed a month of her colums, so I should have gotten this one and the two which follow earlier. --Dennis

The cable industry is determined not to be blindsided again by unexpected competition, though that might not be possible given the barrage of new digital developments at every turn. ¶ Last year, the rapid adoption of wireless portable devices outside the home proved a surprising and potent new competitive force just as cable operators were beginning to monetize their $80 billion digital rebuild. ¶ This year, the explosion of digital video downloads from the Internet as an effective cable bypass is a game-changing threat. The latest example is the Walt Disney Co.'s plan to provide ad-supported hit series on its branded Web sites for free the day after their initial broadcast. ...

The murky future of television broadcasters, whose media platform is the most challenged by surging digital broadband technology, is gaining some peculiar clarity from a variety of major industry players seeking to redefine the value of their own TV station-related investments. ¶ Even so, television broadcasters will not realize enough reliable revenue from new places until they take command of their interactive destiny -- and even then, they face formidable issues and challenges. ...¶... But, as broadcast networks continue to diffuse more of their primetime programming into downloads, Internet streams, DVDs and the like, the value proposition of cable, satellite or telephone companies paying to transmit those same broadcast signals will become pitifully weak for stations. ¶ With advertisers already shifting as much as 20% of their spending to new media including the Internet, and as much as two-thirds of incremental revenue growth of conventional advertising shifting online even though Internet video unit costs are two to three times higher than conventional broadcast, TV stations face an uphill battle even selling commercial time. ...

Friday, 28 April 2006

Roughly 936 communities in 47 states have access to fiber networks that extend directly to people's homes to deliver broadband services, according to new statistics published by the Fiber to the Home Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) on Wednesday. ...

The BBC just announced big, strategic initiatives to change its very essence as a broadcaster. Rafat Ali has a characteristically brief and informative summary and there’s Media Guardian coverage here, here, with kvetching by rivals here, a story on the new BBC website here, another summary here, and BBC boss Mark Thompson’s speech here. ¶ But Guardian Unlimited Editor Emily Bell writing at Comment is Free puts this in perspective and says the BBC is doing what many of us have been insisting that media companies must do: break free of their media. ...

New MTV research concludes that its target audience is connected as much by the telecommunications superhighway as they are by their neighborhood streets. ...¶... The study, entitled Just Cause, found that motivating a community response no longer means targeting zip codes. ¶ [MTV Networks president Christina] Norman said the more than 1,200 kids polled identified their community as people they felt connected to, rather than simply those in geographic proximity. Those connections could be a text message, IM, or cell phone conversation. ¶ As a result, Norman said MTV would look to reach kids via the multiplatforms they currently call home, and urged other media to follow that lead. ...

... For the short term, the position of the networks as content providers looks to be somewhat secure, even as the economic model of selling commercials during shows may be in for a body slam. Networks are slowly getting used to the idea of selling programs in various time-shifted formats and offering ad-supported downloads, but this new paradigm bypasses the network affiliate stations completely, and those stations have no desire to become unprofitable or obsolete. ...¶... However, the long-term outlook appears less rosy for affiliate stations. If time-shifted distribution via the Internet becomes the de facto method of watching television, local affiliates may find themselves with less to offer, and therefore less justification for a cut of the take. Fox has contracted with its affiliates to give them a share of the revenue from downloads, but other networks have been moving more slowly. ...

Wednesday, 26 April 2006

NBC Universal Television Group CEO Jeff Zucker outlined NBC's upfront strategy this year, saying the broadcast network would make "Television 360" its main selling point. ¶ Speaking at TV Week's upfront event this morning in Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Zucker said, "TV 360 is our entire approach to TV. Programming can be developed for linear applications, but every program has to have a broadband component or a mobile application. We are going to the upfront in the next few weeks with that being our mantra. The franchise on NBC will all be about broadband and wireless applications. It's our entire approach to programming and our major selling point as we head into the upfront."

Link: Advertising Age. Hmmm. Maybe I can get residuals on Technology360. --Dennis